Hammurabi Dbq Analysis

Imagine that you are in Babylonia and you have just committed a crime what is your punishment and does it fit your crime? Now I bet you're wondering “What is Babylonia?”. Well it was in the middle east and it is now modern day Iraq. Babylonia leader was Hammurabi, he was the man who created all this code of laws, a code is a set of laws. So I would be really confused if I have not been reading and learning about Hammurabi’s code, so Just, what does it mean. Well think about fairness and Justice and that is Just. There are three areas of law where Hammurabi’s code can be shown to be unjust. These are family life, personal life and personal property. First, examples of injustice can be found in the area of family life. In the document it says, “If a son has struck his father his hands shall be cut off” (Document C). This law shows the Hammurabi’s Code
Law 213 says, “ ‘if he has struck the slave-girl of a free man and causes her to lose the fruit of her womb, he shall pay 2 shekels of silver” (Document E). This is unfair on both parts, the slave-girl loses her child and is probably really sad, and she should be let go and not be a slave. Plus it is not an equal punishment, in law 209 it says, “ If a man strikes the daughter of a free man, he shall pay 10 shekels of silver...” (Document E). It is not equal because the slaves should get just as much money as the free people because the same harm was done to the girls and they should have the same punishments. Although, some people may believe that hammurabi’s code was just they are wrong. Examples of injustices have been found in laws concerning family life, personal life, and personal property. Just imagine that you are a boy who has just struck your father and now you're getting your hands cut off, or that you are a slave girl that is getting unfair treatment, would you still think that Hammurabi’s code is